The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) just announced an exciting grant opportunity for agencies to implement and enhance family engagement activities in their state. The Application for New Grants Under the Statewide Family Engagement Centers Program opened for competition on December 20, 2021 and applications are due February 17, 2022.
The purpose of the Statewide Family Engagement Centers (SFEC) program is to provide financial support to organizations that provide technical assistance and training to State educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) in the implementation and enhancement of systemic and effective family engagement policies, programs, and activities that lead to improvements in student development and academic achievement.
Grants will be awarded to statewide organizations or a consortia of organizations working in partnership with the State Education Agency (SEA) to establish statewide family engagement centers. There is an estimated $5 million available to support the grants. The award ceiling is $1,000,000. There are two main goals of the grant.
- Carry out parent education and family engagement in education, programs, and
- Provide comprehensive training and technical assistance to SEAs, LEAs, schools identified by SEAs and LEAs, organizations that support family-school partnerships and other such programs.
The last time OESE awarded new SFEC grants was Fiscal year 2019, at which time Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium, serving Maryland and Pennsylvania, was awarded a grant. Prior to that, in 2018, 11 new grant awards were made to agencies serving Minnesota, Kentucky, Arizona, South Dakota, Ohio, Hawaii, South Carolina, Nebraska, West Virginia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. OESE publishes a list of awards, and awardee’s applications, on the Department website under Awards. Reviewing prior submissions may help potential applicants to get a sense of type of activities that are supported by SFEC grants.
If your agency is interested in pursuing this grant opportunity, we recommend you attend the Department’s Pre-Application Webinar Series. The Department will offer three pre-application webinars on the SFEC opportunity: January 4, 2021, January 20, 2021, and February 4, 2022. You can learn more and access links to the webinars on the Applicant Info and Eligibility website, under Pre-Application Webinar Series.
Our team is dedicated to helping agencies provide high-quality services to the most vulnerable children and families. We offer Grant Writing Solutions to help agencies prepare for and submit applications for competitive grant opportunities. If you are considering applying for SFEC funding and need assistance to plan, draft, or submit a high-quality proposal, please contact us to explore how we can support your agency.
Thank you.
Thank you for reading our blog. We encourage you to use our blog posts for thought, integration, and sharing. When using or sharing content from blog posts, please attribute the original content to Foundations for Families.